That Metal Show is back and season 14 is in full swing as hosts Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson have been welcoming some of hard rock and heavy metal‘s biggest and best. However, the boys love of music extends way beyond everyone they can fit into the show, so each week they’ve been sharing their ‘Pick Of The Week,’ to cast the spotlight on some of their favorite current acts and releases. Check out this week’s picks, which include everything from Black Star Riders classic hard rock to the ultra aggro sounds of trouble makers King 810. Read more…

Today is St. Patrick’s Day when people around the globe celebrate all things Irish. Now some people think that means puffy leprechaun hats and green beer, much to the dismay of actual native-born Irishmen, but what they should be celebrating is all the great music that has emanated over the year’s from the Emerald Isle, especially it’s high-grade hard rock and heavy metal. As if the mythical tale of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland in the early Middle Ages weren’t metal enough, Éire’s legacy of heavy riffing stretches back to the late ’60s when Rory Gallagher‘s Taste and Irish Rock standard bearers Thin Lizzy first formed. Read more…

This is why the Internet was invented. Legendary Irish band Thin Lizzy are known as much for their trailblazing dual guitar lines as they are for their tough but tender hard rock songs and now some maniac out there has edited together every Thin Lizzy guitar solo from their earliest recordings in 1971 to their breakup in 1983. Clocking in at over an hour and uploaded to Youtube, it is a non-stop aural orgy of harmonized guitar leads and searing solos from some of the best guitarists to ever strap on a Les Paul. The band actually began as a power trio with former-Them guitarist Eric Bell laying down extended solos but it was after his departure in ’73 when co-lead guitarists Brian “Robbo” Robertson and Scott Gorham joined that the band entered their classic phase. Their intertwined “guitarmonies” and trade-off soloing set new standards in twin guitar playing and were an important influence on the nascent heavy metal genre. After Robbo’s departure in 1978 a slew of awesome axemen took his place including the truly extraordinary Gary Moore, the equally accomplished journeyman guitarist Snowy White and next generation shredder John Sykes. Whether you only know “The Boys Are Back In Town” or are a diehard fan, check out the link below and revel in the non-stop wailing sounds of every Thin Lizzy guitar solo from 1971 – 1983.